Pee-wee kept fumbling in his pockets; he looked awful funny. Then he sat down again and the girl sat down too and they just sat there looking at each other.
“I have to wait till the man comes back so he can give me the quarter I dropped in the meter,” Pee-wee said. “Anyway, we’re not in a hurry, are we? Because anyway, he’ll be back very soon. And anyway I ought to wait and tell him what I did, hey? That’s only right. If I paid that boy now and went away the man might wonder who was tampering with his property and going into his cellar and everything. Scouts, they have to be careful about those things—I have to tell him what I did—See? You see how it is?”
“I think it’s poky sitting here,” the girl said. “We can hear the music here all right,” Pee-wee said. “You can always hear music better at a distance—you ask anybody.”
The waiter boy walked away, all the while keeping his eye on Pee-wee. He didn’t seem to understand but anyway he wasn’t going to let those two get away. I had to laugh to see how he went over and sat behind the counter and kept his eye on them.
“Gee whiz, one thing,” Pee-wee said; “I’m good and sore from falling down; my leg is stiff; maybe I ought to rest anyway, hey?”
The girl said, “They’re dancing over in the pavilion. Why can’t we go over there? It’s so poky sitting here. I want to have a dance. I know all the boys over there.”
“Do you mean to tell me you’d dance right after eating waffles?” the kid said. “Gee, that shows you don’t know what’s good for you. A scout isn’t supposed to hike right away after eating—gee whiz, you ask anybody.”
“I don’t want to ask anybody,” the girl said.
“Mr. Sorronto is selling things over at the pavilion and he won’t come back till the dancing is all over. He’s got a whole big pile of things on his tray. He won’t come back till the intermission. I’m just longing to have a dance,” she said. “I don’t see why you don’t come back later and tell Mr. Sorronto. He’ll be only too glad to give you back your twenty-five cents.”
“There might be a lot of reasons,” Pee-wee said. “Maybe the place might be closed when I come back. Now I see I had—maybe I didn’t have any right to do that. Do you mean to say I ought to sneak off?”